Golf is a sport which requires much practice, because the golf swing is not a natural movement. Over the years master golfers have laid down rules for practically every aspect and phase of the swing, and the resultant combination of movements constitutes the ideal golf swing, which most persons will need to learn step by step over a long period of time, before reaching a standard of proficiency. Naturally, there is no such thing as one agreed upon golf swing, as various master golfers have derived different systems.
Because of the complex movements involved in a golf swing, a player is forced to practice constantly, in order to keep up his standard. Long periods without practice may result in a marked decrease in standard of play. Therefore, after long breaks, such as a winter, a player is required to start the new season by practicing his swing, before he will be able to play at the same level he possessed at the end of the previous season.
Because of this special requirement for practice, a number of facilities have been developed to satisfy this need, as have various devices to aid in the learning of the golf swing.
The best facility for practicing is a golf course itself, if a player has the opportunity to play repeated shots from the teeing grounds and to the greens. However, as courses are often crowded, such practice is difficult to obtain. Instead, the golfer may practice on special driving ranges and practice grounds. He or she may also hit balls into a net, or balls fixed to wire strings. Lately, a hightech electronic aid has been developed which enables a golfer to obtain quantitative as well as qualitative information about his swing.
There are also light weight plastic balls which travel between 20 and 60 yards, and offer a faithful replica of the flight of a real ball. Among other training devices are clubs which, when swung, record the clubhead speed, and those with a mechanism responding to the centrifugal force. At a certain clubhead speed, the centrifugal force acts on a ball inside the shaft, which in turn results in an audible click, thereby informing the player that he has reached the required clubhead speed to cause a ball to travel a certain distance.
While all of these methods give the golfer a good opportunity to hit full shots, they do not provide the required distinction between shots of different length and direction. For instance, it is difficult to determine the quality of shots hit on a driving range, because the differences in distance and direction are difficult to judge from a distance of 2-300 yards.
As regards hitting balls towards a net, or a ball on a wire string or some similar device, the golfer does not get information as to the distance or direction of the shot. Best information in this respect is obtained from the flight of a light weight plastic ball. However, the required area to accommodate shots between 20 and 60 yards does not make full shot practice possible in a backyard garden, or indoors. As regards the hightech device mentioned above, this is probably the best aid existing. It provides information as to distance, direction, trajectory and clubhead velocity in digital form.
While the hightech device, as well as a ball on a wire string, or a golf net may be used indoors during the off season, as may the clubs with devices related to the clubhead speed, the other methods where a ball in flight may be observed may only be used outdoors, or in large indoor tents or special buildings. This is unfortunate, because the best training value would be of the shot in the shape of a trajectory of a ball in flight including direction and distance, thereby providing positive or negative re-inforcements of the action, which is so important in the learning process.
Ideally, the practicing golfer should be able to receive instantly the same information he receives when he looks up after execution of a real golfshot, as to trajectory of the flight of the ball, together with the information he later on receives by walking up to his shot and observing the position of the ball. As said above, the latter information is not available to the golfer on the driving range, because of the distance involved. It is not even available instantly on the golf course, as there is a time lag between the shot itself and the viewing of the result, i.e. the position of the ball. The hightech device provides this information digitally, but not in the desired analogue form which gives the required instant feedback. There is no facility or device available to the golfer, which provides both of these parameters simultaneously, neither one for outdoor nor one for indoor use.
The present invention has been derived with a view to obtaining a training device which satisfies the above mentioned ideal requirement. One aim of the invention has been to provide a facility and a device by which it will be possible to obtain instant feedback related to the flight path of a ball.
A second objective has been to provide a facility where instant and visible information may be provided as to the direction and distance of a golf shot with a high degree of precision. A further aim of this invention has been to provide said facility for golf training within a limited space in order that it may be accommodated in a backyard or garden of a private home or indoors in golf training "cubicles".